The completion of Sh190 million construction and expansion of the Manda airport in Lamu county is behind schedule by six months.
The works commenced in March 2021 and was to take six months to complete.
The works include renovation and expansion of the apron and taxiway which were to be ready for use by August this year.
Despite assurances of completion by state officials including Transport and Infrastructure PS Solomon Kitungu, progress is yet to be achieved.
Currently the works are at a 70 per cent completion.
Owing to the ongoing works, the Kenya Airports Authority-KAA has created a temporary apron and taxiway to enable landing and daily off of planes at the busy airport.
Water has been cited as a major challenge for the contractor, a factor that has equally slowed down progress of works.
A worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said water shortages have been a major hindrance to work progress.
“Majorly it is the lack of water. It’s impossible to do anything and the contractor is frustrated about it,” said the worker.
Speaking when he presided over the relaunch of Jambojet flights to Lamu on September 15, PS Kitungu said the ministry was liaising with the KAA with a view to establish a water desalination plant in the airport to address the perennial water shortage.
The PS had indicated that apron and taxiway were to be ready in November 2021.
More than three months later, the plant is yet to be established while the project shows no sign of completion anytime soon.
On several occasions, workers have had to fetch water from Lamu island in jerricans and transport it across the ocean to the airport by boat.
The airport is equally still marred by water shortages for general use with reports that water has to be ferried daily on boats from Lamu island or Mokowe on the mainland daily.
“The toilets here are sometimes out of bounds because there is no water. The situation is bad,” said an airport staff.
Tourism stakeholders in Lamu have called for the speedy completion of the airport upgrade to open up the sector to more tourists and visitors.
“The alternative apron and runway are not in good condition at all. It’s risky having planes use them,” said Mohamed Somo.
In his response, the KAA coast regional manager Peter Wafula admitted to the delayed works but said he was waiting for the official position from the engineer in charge.
In 2019, a plane got stuck in a huge pothole at the airport during takeoff, leaving travellers shaken.
